Politics pervasive at Madison's Freakfest

That's the formal name of the budget repair bill, the mix of measures that balanced the state budget but drew tens of thousands of protesters to the Capitol earlier this year.

Public workers such as Slesarev took pension and health insurance hits. Friends swirled around him Saturday with a giant plastic cleaver, encouraging passersby to "kill the bill."

The annual Halloween party on State Street always boasts a political bent - it's Madison, after all - and this year was no exception.

In the giant front window at Chautara restaurant, 14 friends dined at a long table, all dressed in black robes and powdered white wigs. This was the sixth year the group dressed as judges, making rulings on costumes of passers-by, but this year they entertained people by pretending to choke each other. (If you don't get the joke, you've been blessedly out of touch with Wisconsin politics.)

About 25,000 tickets had been sold to Freakfest, said Joel DeSpain, a Madison police spokesman. Police reported no serious problems, he said.